Abstract

At the monthly meeting in March, 1863, I brought beforethe Members of the Society some notes relative to the researchesand early investigations into the phenomena andhistory of prismatic analysis.At that time the researches of Professor Kirchoff, andBunsen's appliances for the examination of colored flames,were but little known. Spectroscopes were scarce, and hadnot been introduced into the colony, consequently the onlyway of illustrating the paper was by means of colored drawingsand some scientific apparatus. Many important discoverieshave, however, been made since that period, especiallyfrom the results of Spectrum Analysis applied to theheavenly bodies,